Friday, August 25, 2017

"Monte Viso is the location of a neolithic jadeite quarry, at an elevation of 2000 to 2400 metres. Its productivity peaked around 5000 BC. The jadeite was used to make cult axes, which are found all over western Europe." From Wikipedia

Saturday, July 15, 2017

"The gateways of an ancient Roman fort in Britain are roughly aligned with the light from the sun during the summer and winter solstices — a design that would have resulted in a striking scene on the shortest and longest days of the year, a researcher says. ... "Let in the Light: Ancient Roman Fort Designed for Celestial Show

Again, we have a sort of honeycomb weathering. "Honeycomb weathering, also known as fretting, cavernous weathering, alveoli/alveolar weathering, stone lattice, stone lace or miniature tafoni weathering (Mustoe, 1982) is a form of salt weathering common on coastal and semi-arid granites, sandstones and limestones (Mustoe 1982)." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honeycomb_weathering

Of course, this is not wood. This formation is interesting because it looks like a sort of honeycomb weathering. "Honeycomb weathering, also known as fretting, cavernous weathering, alveoli/alveolar weathering, stone lattice, stone lace or miniature tafoni weathering (Mustoe, 1982) is a form of salt weathering common on coastal and semi-arid granites, sandstones and limestones (Mustoe 1982)." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honeycomb_weathering

shows alignments of the stones along the northern possible moonset on major and minor lunar standstills. These astronomical alignments are shown using the Photographer’s Ephemeris. It is possible that this megalithic monument was used for observing the cycles of the moon.

In this image, we can see the left side of the Ales Stenar and the direction of the northern moonset (blue line) on a major lunar standstill, represented by the blue line. Note the alignment of the stones along this direction.

Here, we can see the right side of the Ales Stenar and the direction of the northern moonset (blue line) on a minor lunar standstill, represented by the blue line. Note the alignment of the stones along this direction.

The images are snapshots of the results of Photographer's Ephemeris. In the images, the yellow and orange lines are giving the directions of sunrise and sunset on the days of lunar standstills.

On the summer solstice, we have the main axis of Ales Stenar oriented along the sunset. In the following image, this direction is given by the orange line.

Wednesday, September 7, 2016

The Intesa Sanpaolo Tower in Torino behaves like a huge "diffraction grating". The facade is a doudle-skin one, the outer skin being mabde by a steel frame an orientable transparent panels. This outer skin becomes a huge optical device.
The south side has only the central part covered by the doudle-skin. The rest is covered by photovoltaic panels. In the proper incident sunlight, we can see the central part dispersing the white light in colored beams. Here two images of the phenomenon.